Death Prophecies 3: The Unknown Enemy Will Kill You

by Saxon Andrew

  • • •

  Amy sat in her chair and watched the battle on her panel’s large display. The computer tracking the engagement had two hundred and fifty six of the attackers hit by the Crystal River’s training beams but the survivors were moving into range to open fire. She heard the gravity compensators whine as Lt. Hobbs flipped the ship end over end and blasted the flagship away from the incoming attackers. She shook her head. She wasn’t aware the ship was capable of that maneuver. She made a note of it in her notes and saw the attackers falling further away. Suddenly the huge ship turned broadside to the attacker as Hobbs rotated the ship as line after line of blasters opened fire on the attackers. Amy nodded and then looked at the six attackers coming at the ship from the opposite direction. They were on the ship in an instant and opened fire. The Bravo Blaster Team responded but were too late to knock the six vessels out before they opened fire. She sighed and heard the computer announce, “Exercise is over. All enemy attackers have been destroyed. The Flagship has extensive damage on the port side.”

  The crew fell back in their chairs and felt their fatigue. They knew they had failed and they didn’t look forward to the punishment the Old Lady was going to put them through for that failure. They looked at their team commanders and saw they felt the same.

  Amy pressed the ship’s intercom and said in a neutral tone the crew had learned to hate, “Team Bravo. How were those ships able to get through our defenses and open fire?”

  Chief Petty Officer Kennedy said, “It is my fault, Sir.”

  “Tell me why.”

  “I had all of the blasters on my team trained on the massed attackers. I should have kept half of them trained in the opposite direction.”

  “So if you had it to do over, what would you change?”

  “I would set thirty blasters to zone coverage in the opposite direction of the others. They would have detected those incoming six warships and opened fire before they moved into range.”

  “Actually, those six ships came out of their stardrives inside their firing range. You will need to set some of your blasters to detect stardrives and fire before they completely enter normal space. Our ship stopping to open fire made it easy for them to get close with their stardrives.”

  Scott looked at Lt. Hobbs and saw him close his eyes. The Admiral was right. He had placed the vessel in a dangerous position. Hobbs had been brilliant in piloting the ship but he made a critical mistake. He was surprised that Amy had seen it.

  Amy was silent for a moment and then said, “It has been brought to my attention that some of you wish to request a transfer to another ship.” The ship was silent. Everyone stopped speaking and looked at each other. “I intend to honor those requests. Anyone that wishes to transfer please notify your team leader and I want those names brought to me within the next fifteen minutes. We’ll discuss this exercise once I receive those names.”

  • • •

  Scott turned around, stood up, and went to Amy’s chair, “Sir, Is this a good idea?”

  “Scott, I know I’ve been pushing them hard but yes, this is a good idea.”

  Scott shook his head, “Why?”

  “Because anyone that chooses to leave has not developed a connection with their teammates. Fleet has more than a hundred of newly trained sailors and I’d rather have them than those that are constantly complaining.”

  “What happens if the entire crew decides to leave?”

  Amy shrugged, “Then we’ll start training the new crew.”

  “Amy…”

  “Scott, trust me on this.”

  “The crew hates you.”

  “I know. And if Admiral Dobson thinks I need to be replaced, then I’ll willingly go. However, I need warriors willing to fight, not crybabies.”

  Thirty minutes later, Chief Kennedy walked on the bridge and came to attention, “Sir, I have the names of those that wish to transfer.”

  “At ease.” Kennedy handed her a tablet and she looked at it. “Chief, I want these sailors to pack their bags and go to the shuttle in the landing bay. They’ll be sent back to Fleet for reassignment.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  The Chief walked off the bridge and Scott said, “How many?”

  “Fifty seven.”

  “I expected more.”

  “So did I; tell the crew to stand down until that shuttle leaves. Let me know when it departs.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Scott watched Amy leave the bridge and saw the bridge crew staring at him. He picked up the communicator, “Crew, stand down. Be ready to report to your stations shortly.” Scott put the communicator down and sat down in his chair. He and Amy completed their simulator training four weeks ago just in time to have their flagship completed. The training had been intensive and both of them had put in sixteen hour days four or five times a week.

  He knew Amy was a no nonsense person but she had been driving the crew unmercifully. She just didn’t know how the service operated and he worried that she would be removed from her assignment. This transfer may be the straw that makes it happen. He saw the bridge crew’s apprehension but he wasn’t going to say anything critical of Amy. He would stand by her no matter what. He saw the shuttle leave the landing bay and he pressed a button on his panel, “Sir, the shuttle had departed.”

  “Call the crew to battle stations.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Scott lifted the communicator, “Attention all crew members. Report to your battle stations.” Scott waited and a minute later, Amy entered the bridge and went to her chair. She looked at her panel and saw all the ready lights were glowing green and she lifted her communicator.

  “I know that most of you view me as a tyrant and slave driver. It’s not going to get any better. It’s probably going to get worse.” The crew groaned in their chairs. “Let me tell you why. How many warships has Earth ever built that has a crew of more than fifty?” She paused and said, “None. This new vessel is the first of its kind and is unique in that it has a crew of two hundred. Of course the other flagships will be twins to it but no one has ever fought with a ship like this. Our standard warships only have a crew of two flying them and it’s much simpler to get them working together. In order for this ship to survive, everyone must learn how to fight with the members of their teams and know what each other’s thinking in any situation. We also have to be ready to fight on a moment’s notice. You made me very proud of you today. All units reported ready in fifteen seconds. That’s the fastest you’ve ever performed and I’m pleased at your time. I think you can do it faster, but not by much. Your hard work and practice paid off in this exercise. If you had taken longer than seventeen seconds, the attacker force would have been in range to open fire.”

  “And let’s talk about your results during the exercise. Your accuracy was better than ninety percent. Lt. Hobbs did an outstanding job of keeping the ship in a position to make the best use of our blasters. He did make an error at the end but I suspect he won’t do that again.” Amy saw Hobbs shake his head. “You should know that the other fleet’s flagship was destroyed in the same exercise and managed to kill seventy percent of the attackers. You killed them all and the ship was still able to fight. I’m proud of your accomplishment.”

  Amy heard cheers echo up the hall. She smiled and said, “If we had our missile crews on board, those six ships wouldn’t have been successful. However, this is blaster training and you’re off to a good start. Why have I been so hard on you? You only have to ask yourselves some questions to understand. Once we enter the Carand Territory, how long do you think you’ll be at your stations fighting to defend our ship? We could be fighting for days without a break and you’re going to have to be able to tolerate the stress and fatigue. Our records show they have millions of warships and they will keep sending them without pause. You won’t be facing four hundred attackers; you’ll be facing thousands. Every blaster team is going to have to learn how to support each other when we’re about to be overwhelmed and still defend your primary zones. You can only lear
n to do that by actually doing it in combat.

  Amy paused and said, “You have proven that you are capable of going to battle stations fast enough to take on attackers moving on us. We will now start the most difficult piece of our training. We have been given a course to fly over the next eight days and Fleet will be sending attackers at us the entire voyage. It will be up to this crew to make sure we complete the flight and arrive at our final destination. The replacements for those that transferred will arrive within the hour and you are going to have to bring them up to speed so that our efficiency doesn’t suffer. We have one day to get them ready and then we start the exercise. I believe in you and have seen you getting better each day that has passed. By the end of this exercise, you’ll be even better than you think you can be. I will not let up on pushing you to give me the best you have to offer. You are my responsibility and I will not take short cuts in preparing you for what we’ll have to face. Chief Kennedy.”

  Kennedy punched his console, “Yes, Sir.”

  “I ordered those ships to attack us after coming out of their stardrives. It was those six ships that killed First Fleet’s Flagship. The accuracy of your team was spot on in taking them out before they could take multiple shots at us. I expect you to learn from the experience and not allow it to happen again.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “All of you have done an outstanding job in the last exercise and I applaud your actions. You have twenty-four hours off while your team leaders are training the new trainees. That is all.”

  The crew was silent and they looked at each other and saw something different in each other’s eyes. They were coming together and they could feel it. Chief Kennedy looked at one of his team, “What’s bothering you, Sanchez?”

  “The Admiral is breaking my heart along with my back.” Kennedy stared at him and Sanchez smiled, “She has my heart to break, Chief. I won’t let you down again and I won’t complain about the hard work.” Kennedy smiled and said, “Go take a break. I’ve got to work on getting our new team members ready.”

  “Chief, I’ll help you if you want.”

  “I will too, Chief.”

  “Call us when they arrive.”

  “Thanks, I could use the assistance.” The team walked away to their quarters and Kennedy smiled. He had an idea.

  He went to the ship’s supply officer and said, “I wonder if you can put something together for me.”

  “What is that?” Kennedy told him and he smiled, “I can have it to you in three hours.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  “It’s a great idea.”

  • • •

  The new recruits arrived and Kennedy greeted his replacements in the blaster bay. His team walked in and Kennedy handed each of them a patch. They looked at it and saw a heart in the center of it with a blaster beam punching through the middle of it. Around the top edge was written Bravo Blasters and around the bottom edge was Hart’s Breakers. The team looked at it and Sanchez smiled, “The other teams are going to be so jealous.”

  “They’ll be getting one as well. Let’s make damn sure we live up to this!” The team jumped in and began working with the new recruits. Before the day was over, every blaster team had the patches on their shoulders.

  Even the bridge crew had one that read, Bridging the Singularity. Scott saw the patch and tried to act normal. He knew it was small things like this that make huge differences. He knew Amy had to have seen it but she gave no indication she did. The crew was ready and eight days later the Crystal River arrived at its final coordinates and celebrated their victory. Janell was there to greet them and she knew that she had made a great decision in giving Amy command of Second Fleet. She assigned the new missile crews to the three flagships and, after five days of liberty, the crews began their final phase of combat training. Four weeks later, the twenty thousand warships were assigned and the two fleets began their final training maneuvers.

  • • •

  Amy sat in her conference room on board the Crystal River with all of the unit commanders in her fleet. Amy looked around the room and said, “Chief Kennedy, you have an issue to discuss?”

  “Yes, Sir. There’s a problem with our warships moving inside our perimeter during combat. They interfere with our targeting of enemy vessels.”

  “I’m not sure I understand, Chief. We need those ships to keep enemy warships away from us.”

  “I understand that, Sir. But when they move inside the range of our weapons, they block our ability to target the enemy vessels.”

  “Do you have a solution for this?”

  “Sir, have the tactical computers on our warships keep them outside our defenses and fire on the vessels approaching our ship from outside that zone.”

  Amy looked at Commodore Roland, “Tony, what do you think about this?”

  “We can change our tactical programming but if you’re going to be attacked by an overwhelming number of enemy ships, we’ll have to come after them.”

  Kennedy looked at Tony, “Sir, if you will stand off and launch your missiles at the attackers from outside the kill zone, they’ll be trapped between our crossfires.”

  Amy looked at Tony and he shrugged, “We can set it up to do that first. However, nothing is more uncertain than a massive space dogfight. Do we have time to run some exercises before we launch?”

  Amy tilted her head and sighed, “Probably not. Set it up and explain to your pilots what the issue is and leave it up to them to do the right thing.”

  “I’ll probably have to tell Sol about this. I have the responsibility for protecting your ship and he’ll be outside my ships. However, he may have to fill in if I lose too many ships.”

  “Where is Sol?”

  “Commodore Jones is completing his final exercises.”

  Amy nodded, “Tell him what’s going on and I have another question about your strategy.”

  “What is that, Sir?”

  “I’ve looked at how you’ve set up your formations around us and I think you’re setting yourself up for massive attacks.”

  Tony frowned, “Sir, I’m following standard Fleet procedures.”

  “That’s just it, Commodore. Fleet has never had to defend a major ship in the past. You’re using the procedures for defending a stationary object. This ship will be maneuvering at high speed during combat and holding those formations will be next to impossible.”

  “What are you suggesting, Sir?”

  “I’ve worked on developing a weave that your ships will use to defend us. It has five layers with a thousand ships in each layer. They’ll be moving on different courses around the Crystal River and will be crisscrossing at an incredible speed. You’ll have multiple angles of attack on any enemy vessel that enters that weave.”

  “Please tell me we can at least try this before we leave.”

  “That’s why there’s no time to trial the other. I’m sending the pattern to your ship and I want you to get your ships organized to trial it in three hours.” Tony just stared at her and Amy smiled, “It’s not as difficult as you think. Once you give your ships their place in the pattern, they’ll pick it up quickly.”

  “What about Commodore Jones?”

  “I have a pattern for him as well that will compliment yours. Are there any other issues we need to handle?”

  Tony smiled, “Sir, my pilots have requested a patch like the ones used on your ship.”

  Amy smiled, “Talk to Chief Kennedy. I think he can assist you with that.” Tony looked at Kennedy, whose face was red, and he nodded. “Ok, let’s get moving. We’re moving out soon and we need to make the most of the time remaining.”

  Amy stood up and Scott said, “Attenshun!” The officers stood up and Amy left the room.

  Tony looked at Kennedy, “Chief, you need to communicate with me and let me know if you need me to enter your kill zone.”

  “I have your frequency and won’t hesitate to use it. Come with me and I’ll introduce you to our patch maker.”

&n
bsp; Tony looked at Scott, “Where did she come up with this weave?”

  Scott smiled, “Her sons built a hot wheel track with multiple levels. She watched the small cars flying around the tracks and realized it was something that would work with our ships.”

  Tony shook his head, “I need to get busy on this. I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

  Scott smiled, “Take as much time as you need as long as you’re ready in three hours.”

  Tony laughed, “You sound a lot like the Admiral.”

  “Thank you.”

  Tony shook his head and said, “Chief, I’m going to have to check on the patches later.”

  “I’ll handle it for you. I’ll have a shuttle run them out to you later today.”

  “That would be good. See you later.”

  • • •

  Janell sat in her command chair and watched the feed from a probe she had deployed to keep an eye on the two fleets. She stared at the Crystal River and saw thousands of warships moving in some kind of weird pattern around it. It almost looked like a heavy metal atom with electrons spinning around it while the nucleus remained at the center. “What are you up to, Amy?” Then she saw the flagship take off at high speed as the circling warships moved with it maintaining their distance. She lifted her communicator, “Admiral Hart, what exactly are you doing?”

  Amy saw Janell appear on her panel and smiled, “I’ve developed a weave to defend my flagship, Sir.”

  “Do you think that will work?”

  “I do, Sir.”

  “Notify your ships to turn on their training beams and missiles. I’m sending a fleet to attack your vessel.”